


Tried and True

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [40]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Dolls, Gen, Happy Ending, Non-Sexual Age Play, Platonic Relationships, Relationship Problems, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 04:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12741105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Abby is tired, and without Ducky for the night, she's really not in the mood for anything.Especially not Gibbs' house.





	Tried and True

**Author's Note:**

> This one was inspired by schnugglebug, who has since deleted her account here but always holds a special place on Tumblr as one of the people I freak out about seeing in my notif's. XD Hopefully this is adequate after being gone for two weeks, but guys! I finished NaNo today! I started the first and finished with 50,151 today! How cool is that?!
> 
> ...Ahem. Anyway, enjoy the fic!

Abby really didn't like this. She _really_  didn't like this idea, this plan, this...this whole thing! Ducky had someplace he needed to go for the sake of some case or another, meeting up an old friend and begging for reports, or something similar. But in the process, that meant that he wouldn't be at home until late tonight. And it was Wednesday, and their play-dates were almost always always _always_  on Wednesdays! So Ducky had asked Gibbs for some assistance in his departure, and had managed to keep both Palmer and herself too preoccupied to realize Ducky was long gone until it was too late.

So now, here she was, working in her lab at six in the evening, trying to block out the disappointment she felt at not getting to go home tonight. She was hovering over Major Mass Spec for lack of anything else to do, watching the tubes fly around at a pace faster than she could ever hope to trace with her eyes, when two sets of footsteps arrived in her doorway. Abby really wasn't feeling up for an argument about normal work hours, or healthy attachments, or anything else someone might be "concerned" about surrounding her. She was gonna be just fine, as soon as Ducky came back.

"Abs, you good?" Gibbs asked.

Abby nodded, tearing her eyes away from her work just long enough to look at Gibbs for a few seconds. "Fine."

Gibbs sighed and Abby knew that was not going to be the end of their conversation. "Abby...come on. Take a break from work for the night; everyone's going home."

"Just let me run a few more things, Gibbs, I promised I'd get this done--"

"Abby," Gibbs said.

His tone made her pause. It wasn't demanding, necessarily, but it wasn't pleading either. It was firm and self-assured, paternal. _Oh. So that's where this is going_.

"Come on, Abby, I know the others want to play with their cousins tonight, if you want to come over?" Gibbs offered.

Abby internally flinched. She did, she really did want to go over, but she knew that if she did, then Jimmy probably would too, and she really didn't want to have to fight with him like they always did in the little ways like who got their juice first or who Dad loved more. And they always always always wound up arguing in one way or another when Dad wasn't around. "I'm fine here," she said flatly.

"Only if you're sure..." Gibbs trailed off.

Abby continued to stare at Major Mass Spec for a minute before sighing. "Yeah. I'm sure."

Gibbs moved so that he was in her line of sight and he whispered conspiratorially, "You know what? I don't believe you. You never could lie looking me dead in the eye. And you didn't even bother trying, because you know that. Now come on. If you just want to go to my house and sleep that's fine, but I don't like the thought of leaving you here alone."

Abby shook her head and looked over to the doorway. Instead of Palmer standing there like she originally thought he would be, McGee was watching her. "We don't have enough space to fit everyone in Gibbs' car, so I volunteered to drive," he explained. "Everyone else's ready to go, so I guess you're stuck with me, but, uh..."

Abby shrugged. "Whatever. I'll get Bert and we can go, I guess."

Gibbs kissed her temple and whispered, "Go easy on him, he's been having an on-again-off-again day, and the only reason I'm letting him drive is because the others would be worse."

She nodded and Gibbs left as soon as he had come. "Abby? What did Gibbs say?" McGee asked.

Turning to McGee with the barest hint of a smile, she said, "Oh, you know. Just reminding me to lock up the lab."

Abby could tell it was a difficult day for McGee when he just accepted that at face value and nodded. She didn't want to hold him up from time at home, so as much as she hated having to leave herself, she took off her lab coat, grabbed Bert, and walked out of the lab, locking it. McGee, to his credit, tried to start a couple conversations, but Abby wasn't feeling up to it, and her flat reactions soon made him stop trying to engage in any conversation that was beyond, "What do you think we'll have for dinner?"

They were in McGee's car and Abby was staring out the window when she finally heard a conversation starter that interested her. "You know, I don't get you sometimes, Abby."

She turned to McGee with a slight smile. "What don't you get about me, McGee?" Normally she'd tease him and say _Timmy_ , but tonight that might make him go little, and he was still driving the car.

"It's just...you're almost always so happy. Like nothing can get you down. But when you get sad or...or introspective, or whatever you want to call it, it's like nothing could ever get you back up. You just feel so deeply and so...intensely about everything. I don't understand it," he said. He shook his head and laughed. "You must think I'm crazy."

"Not really," Abby said with a shrug. "And maybe one day you'll get to feel intensely about things too. You never know."

"I used to," McGee said, pain flickering across his face. "It didn't go over well."

Abby let the subject drop, and within five minutes they were in Gibbs' neighborhood and McGee was putting the car in park. She considered getting out, walking away and finding her way home on foot, but when she stood outside the car to find Timmy already running into a hug with his Papa, she felt something inside her give and she allowed herself just a little time...well, little. She walked over to Uncle Gibbs and gave him a hug. Everyone else was getting out of his car, and Kate bounced over, giving her a hug and an offer to play when they got inside. Tony gave her a smile and a bear hug, which she happily returned. When Jimmy got out, he offered her a wan smile but not much else, and she offered him a slight laugh and a wave, but didn't make any move to get closer to him as everyone went inside.

She and Kate split off from the boys almost as soon as they were inside, grabbing a couple dolls and talking about _Harry Potter_  and _My Little Pony_  and anything and everything that really came into their heads. It was a welcome distraction, and Abby could almost imagine Dad being with Uncle Gibbs in the kitchen, having adult discussions for a minute while she and everyone else played. Kate looked over to the boys and Abby followed her gaze. Timmy seemed to be reffing races that Jimmy and Tony were having with different cars, and it was cute to watch. But Kate had a thoughtful frown on her face, meaning that something was bothering her. "Why didn't you hug Jimmy earlier?" she asked Abby. "Usually you hug everyone."

Abby shrugged. "I dunno. He didn't seem to want a hug, not even a gentle one, so I didn't."

"In the car he was all excited about getting to play with everyone, and he kept on talking about how you were super fun to play with as well, but you never seemed to put one-hundred percent in your games with him," Kate said.

"He's two, Kate, I can't really go super-in-depth like I do with you or even Timmy," Abby said, starting to feel defensive and hurt.

"Yeah? Is that why you two are always arguing as well?" Kate challenged.

Abby felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. "No."

Kate sighed, brushing hair out of her face. "Abby, why are you two fighting all the time? Little arguments I get, Timmy and I fight over the TV station sometimes, but he made it sound like it was going on whenever possible."

"He...he feels threatened by me, I guess," Abby said with a shrug. "Something about not having as much time with Dad as I do one-on-one. But, he gets to be with Dad all day! And I just want to tease him sometimes, but he always takes it as an attack and we argue over it anyway, so I figured why not just get the argument over with, you know? Cut out the middleman."

"Have you told him?" Kate asked, jerking her thumb towards the boys.

Abby shook her head. "It's not like he would listen, anyway," Abby said. "If I'm a threat, then he won't listen to me, he'll be scared of me. And I don't want that."

Kate hummed. "Sibling rivalry with a cross between past abuse and feelings of neglect, that's not easy to balance into something healthy," she mused.

Abby shrugged. "Well, what can I do? Because Dad has tried to fix it every way he knows how, and it's not working."

"We could try this...hey Jimmy! Can you c'mere a minute?" Kate called.

Jimmy looked up and shuffled over, sitting between Abby and Kate. "Wha's goin' on?" he asked.

"Two of our dolls are having a problem and we were wondering what you think should be done about it," Kate explained. "You see, one of the dolls, well, his Mommy and Daddy were not-so-nice to him, and he's worried about being replaced, like, all the time. And this other doll, she doesn't feel it's fair when the first doll says he doesn't get as much time with their friend and she does because he and their friend work together. She just wants to play around with him sometimes, but he always feels like he's being made fun of, and they wind up arguing over, like, everything! What would you do to make sure that the two get along?"

Understanding flickered behind Jimmy's eyes. "I'd want to make sure the guy doll tells the girl doll that time with their friend at work isn't the same as time playing, and she gets more of that, and it makes the guy doll sad."

"But, what if the girl doll was willing to share some of that time with him, but not all of it?" Abby proposed. "If he's awake, of course. Because she has to play by herself a lot as well as with their friend."

"I think the guy might like that," Jimmy said slowly. "He definitely wants the fighting to stop though."

"So does the girl," Abby said, pressing her lips together. "Sorry."

Jimmy hugged her and she hugged him back. "It's hard to share Dad sometimes, you know?"

"Mm-hm," Jimmy agreed. "Sometimes I worry that he likes you better and he'll get rid of me one day."

"He'd never do that!" Abby exclaimed. "He loves you too much!"

Jimmy smiled at her hopefully. "Really?"

Abby nodded furiously. "He loves you with all his heart and then some, like he does with me! It's just in different ways sometimes, and sometimes it looks lopsided because of that."

Jimmy smiled. "Does that mean the guy doll and the girl doll are still friends?"

"Of course!" Abby exclaimed, hugging him. "We will always always _always_  be friends, no matter what! Even if you turn into an axe murderer or something!"

"Let's hope it's 'or something'," Uncle Gibbs said, walking over. "Dinner's almost ready. If you three could help me get the table ready, Tony and Timmy are already grabbing their plates and cups."

All three of them got up and grabbed their stuff from the kitchen, Abby taking care of Jimmy's cup for him, just in case. She was a little disappointed Dad couldn't be with them still, but she was glad she and Jimmy were coming to an understanding of sorts. There was no way she would let any sibling rivalry tear them apart, though she still might tease him from time to time. Just not about who liked Dad better or anything about Dad, really. She was realizing that was forbidden territory, so she might tease him about being sorted into Ravenclaw, or something like that! That wasn't too personal, and Jimmy already teased her about being a Slytherin!

Nodding to herself with satisfaction as Uncle Gibbs passed around the ready-made pizzas for dinner, Abby was determined to make sure Jimmy knew she wasn't completely done with teasing him, but she was doing it out of a place of love, not hate. She wondered if maybe she could replace his car keys with another set of toy keys as a gift...

"What're you thinking about that has you so smiley?" Timmy asked around a bite of pizza.

Abby shrugged and gave him a mischievous smile. "That's for me to know and you to find out!"

"Aw, c'mon, I wanna know!" Timmy whined.

"Behave, you two," Uncle Gibbs warned. "I'd hate to have a chat with either of you about your behavior tonight."

Abby apologized but inwardly smiled. She loved all of her family, even if she wasn't an only child anymore.


End file.
